How to return true if string exists in table, Ruby on Rails

Question

I need the controller to check if a string exists in a table and then return "true" or "false" so that I can use it in an if statement. For example, if the string "Robert" exists in the "my_friends" table, I need to display those corresponding items related to "Robert" from another table called "goodtimes."

I realize the .exists won't work in this application because I'm searching for a string.

@my_friends.where(friend_id: 'Robert').exists?   #always returns false
    @goodtimes = goodtime.where friend_id: "Robert" #works

The pseudo code would look like this:

if (table x contains string "Robert")
    @goodtimes = goodtime.where friend_id: "Robert" #display goodtimes from table y

Thanks in advance, Dave

You want to search that string in every column of the table? — Gerry, May 07 '17 at 00:33
No, just the friend_id column. The friend_id column is in both tables. — Dave G, May 07 '17 at 00:35
Use your model and do a regular AR query, what is the model of the table you want to query? — Gerry, May 07 '17 at 00:37
I should have said that I'm new to Rails. I don't understand your question. The file in the model directory doesn't contain anything other than the class and then end. What's an AR query? Thanks btw for helping. — Dave G, May 07 '17 at 00:42
AR stands fro ActiveRecord, and that's how rails (by default) queries the database. What have you assigned to `@my_friends`? You probably query the database using something like `MyFriends.where...`; with that you are using AR. — Gerry, May 07 '17 at 00:49
OMG, it worked! Thank you so much. I've been working on this for days! I had your response typed incorrectly. — Dave G, May 07 '17 at 00:55
Glad to help, but if you mean the answer below, that was not me, that's @shambalambala answer. If it worked you can thank him by accepting the answer :) — Gerry, May 07 '17 at 01:00
Thank you both! This means so much to me. You are both good people! — Dave G, May 07 '17 at 01:06

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

0

You can check whether Robert exists or not by using .where().present

if @my_friends.where(:friend_id => 'Robert').present?
  # Robert exists
else
  # Robert doesn't exist
end

See this answer for more ways to check if a record exists.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

Community

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answered May 07 '17 at 00:43

Aurélien Gasser

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Thank you shambalambala! – Dave G May 07 '17 at 01:07

How to return true if string exists in table, Ruby on Rails

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